


go forth child, make us proud, (honour is yours, underground)

by thatdamnuchiha



Series: In the Company of Elves [15]
Category: Naruto, The Lord of the Rings - J. R. R. Tolkien, The Silmarillion and other histories of Middle-Earth - J. R. R. Tolkien
Genre: (because Sakura is technically a child at the beginning of this), Amputation, Angst, Avenger Haruno Sakura, BAMF Haruno Sakura, But Does It Better, Character Death, Crossover, Elfling Sakura, Eventual Fluff, Eventual Romance, F/M, Haruno Sakura-centric, Heavy Angst, Hurt Haruno Sakura, Hurt/Comfort, I Wrote This Instead of Sleeping, In Which Sakura Pulls a Sasuke, Loss of Limbs, POV Haruno Sakura, POV Third Person, Revenge, Rivendell | Imladris, See if you can guess which elf Sakura is related to, Slow Build, Slow Burn, Strong Haruno Sakura, Third Age, Young Elves, spite, though tbh it should be obvious, vengeance
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-10-01
Updated: 2020-12-13
Packaged: 2021-03-07 15:50:12
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 4
Words: 9,682
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26740150
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thatdamnuchiha/pseuds/thatdamnuchiha
Summary: When the being of fire and death came, Sakura watched the world burn.When the being of fire and death came, Sakura watched her world, her life, come to an end.When the being of fire and death came, Sakura swore vengeance and vowed to utterly destroy those who had stolen everything away from her and her dead friends out of pure spite.She thought she was a woman with nothing more to lose and only vengeance to gain, but nothing could be further from the truth – because her family have been keeping a secret from her. A secret they took to their graves. But the time has come for lost blood to be returned to its rightful place.Flung into a world unknown, Sakura scrambles to find herself once more, because her family have left their mark on that world, and the object of Sakura’s vengeance might just bring back a bloodied past which was meant to have been buried long ago.
Relationships: Elladan & Elrohir (Tolkien), Elladan (Tolkien) & Haruno Sakura, Elrohir (Tolkien) & Haruno Sakura, Elrond Peredhel & Haruno Sakura, Erestor (Tolkien) & Haruno Sakura, Glorfindel (Tolkien) & Haruno Sakura, Glorfindel (Tolkien)/Haruno Sakura, Other Relationship Tags to Be Added
Series: In the Company of Elves [15]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1430875
Comments: 37
Kudos: 258





	1. death comes for most of us in the end

**Author's Note:**

> Yes. 'tis another work, with another title taken from the lyrics of the song 'Glory' by Hollywood Undead, because the a n g s t be real in this wonderful work. 
> 
> At least I think it will, because angry-vengeful Sakura is coming your way. Three guesses which canon elf (and family) she's related to... Please head the tags for any trigger warnings, because I did try to put in what I thought might get people triggered. (I've recently come to the realisation that I'm terrible at figuring out that which could be a trigger, so if you read something which you think should be mentioned as a tag or warning, then please do let me know.)
> 
> On another note, I need to sleep.
> 
> PS. To anybody whose ever commented on any of my works, especially if I've neglected to reply because I see that 2000+ backed up inbox and get intimidated, thank you - and I'm trying to write more chapters for you all to enjoy (which is why I oftentimes neglect to reply). I love reading comments, and I love reading what people think is going to happen, or just what you took from the chapter.
> 
> Anyways, time to sleep.
> 
> Happy Reading.

She could still remember how everything looked when _it_ came on the orders of a madman worse than Uchiha Madara. He, at least, had been doing what he had for his twisted version of world peace. This new madman, however, wanted _war,_ and he had waged it upon them alongside a being whose very presence had made her want to throw up.

Out of all of the members of Team Seven she was the closest thing they had to a sensor, and the foul chakra that _thing_ had radiated had made her sick to her very stomach. It was probably why any sensory type had been the first to fall.

But there she was, still stubbornly clinging to life, because she was exceptional at doing just that. She hadn’t given up, and she never would. Not until she died, or that _thing_ and the madman who had brought it there died by her hand. Her fingers dug into the burning sands, and she pulled herself up to her hands and knees blindly. The Yin Seal had its limits, and the burnt sockets of her eyes were just that. The world was black. Dark. Sakura didn’t like it. She scrabbled at the ground feebly, sending her chakra rippling out in a hope to discover something. _Anything._

“Sak-kura?” the word was rasped out from a dry throat, her chakra brushing against the sole other source still living in the area. She reached out, pawing her way over to where she could just about sense Sasuke lying atop the burning sands of the desert the remnants of Konoha had fled to. Suna had long since fallen, Konoha saved for last as some sort of sick game. “Sak—”

Coughs, hacking and wet, met her ears, and she grasped a hold of his arm finally, patting her way up his body, hands finding his face. He was still warm. Still alive. But the coppery liquid dripping from his lips told her he wouldn’t be for long. Not unless she did something, and quickly so. “Where are you injured?” she asked, gingerly trying to feel her way around his body – searching for the wound which was killing him.

“Too late,” he hissed, voice barely above a muted whisper. “Can’t save.”

“No,” she growled. _She wouldn’t lose him too_. “Tell me where your injury is!”

A wet squelch rang out, and Sakura frowned, and if she still had eyes they would have widened as her teammate pressed something warm and leaking gooey liquid into her hand. “Take,” Sasuke murmured. “Take them.”

Her hand closed around the eye given to her, and she lifted it to her skull, pressing it inside her freshly healed eye socket. _If she could see, she could heal his injuries much better._ But as Sasuke’s eye slid into place, connections made, granting her sight in one eye, she could only sob. _Because half his guts were hanging out, his body littered with burns from the thing’s whip which had crackled with fire and malice._ Only her released Yin Seal would have been able to save him, and she had already spent it trying to keep herself alive in the earlier battle. _It was the only reason she was still alive, though admittedly with grievous injuries._ Ones that would be somewhat alleviated with Sasuke giving her his eyes.

“—kura,” he rasped. “You… avenge…”

He ripped out his other eye, and Sakura accepted it numbly. It didn’t feel real. Nothing did. Two weeks ago she had been sitting at home inside Konoha, readying up for the trip to see the rest of the family where they lived – in a small town closer to the borders of the Land of Fire than she would have liked. The carriage they had travelled in had a problem, leading to them being delayed by a day. That day had saved their lives.

The _bastard_ who was waging war had gone after her family first for some reason she couldn’t work out. She had barely managed to save and seal away the large family painting grandfather had gotten them to stand for. _It had taken a week to complete._ But Sakura couldn’t deny it had been worth it, though admittedly they could have simply had a photo taken which would have been much less effort. Yet her grandfather – on her father’s side, at least – didn’t particularly like photographs for one reason or another, so the painting it was. Now that was the only thing she had left of them.

Her grandfather’s heirloom had been stolen, the walls of the little compound their family lived and worked in destroyed by what she now knew to be a whip laced with fire. Bodies of family and close friend, lying still and quiet in the midst of the destruction. She and her parents had to bury the lot of them. Then they had gone back to Konoha, grieving and angry, and after they had started to hear bits and pieces of news. _Of villages, hidden or civilian, being destroyed without regard or mercy._

That was about the time when she had decided both he and his horrifying servant had to _die._

Truly, she had sympathised with Sasuke in that instant. She wanted to walk the same path he had, wanted to ensure the man could never hurt anyone she cared about ever again. _But she hadn’t managed it._ Instead, he and _the being_ had come to Konoha, and they had destroyed everything there. Including the last family she had left.

Hope had rested on Uzumaki Naruto’s shoulders, and Sakura had thought together they would defeat the man and his hulking, flaming companion. Surely they wouldn’t be defeated – they who had stopped Uchiha Madara’s terrible plan once before. They could stop any plan. But they hadn’t. Naruto had been one of the first to fall, despite Sakura’s desperate attempts to keep him alive. Then… Well, by then it had just been a matter of time until they all fell. Naruto had been their hope. Their shining beacon of light.

And he was dead, Sasuke was dying, and Sakura was left to pick up the pieces. The world was dead, the silence around her all-consuming, and she vowed then in her heart. _She would kill him and his foul beast or die trying._ She was a woman of twenty-three years, a woman with vengeance on her mind, and she had nothing more left to lose.

There tended to be nothing more dangerous than that, so as Sasuke croaked his last breath, she took the final proffered eye and placed it in her own, last, empty socket. Tears wouldn’t come, despite her freshly healed tear ducts. Instead she felt numb as she slumped back on the burning sands. There was still water in her canteen, and she drunk from it, resting behind the dune shielding her from the worst of the sun’s glare.

Sakura was under no delusions that she would be able to defeat the bastard and his monster at anything bar full strength. She wasn’t Sasuke. Her anger and rage didn’t burn hot, or so she was discovering. Indeed, she had never been as truly or severely angry as she was then. It had only been mild annoyance which burnt hot for her. True rage, as she found for her, burnt cool. Her thought process was focused, her brain scrounging up every memory of her encounter with the beast – oh she knew that had to go first, because it protected the man. She was going to kill it. How exactly, she knew not, but if there was ever one thing she had surpassed Naruto and Sasuke in – it was creative tactical thinking, and sheer utter determination.

But first, she had to sleep, heal, eat, replenish her chakra stores, and then track the bastard and his beast down. Her fingers, still sticky with blood and other bodily fluids, flicked through her depleted pouch, and she pulled out one of the many soldier pills she had brought along with her. She didn’t care for its taste, she couldn’t taste it anyway beyond the bile and blood whose scents hung heavy in the air.

She swallowed the bitter pill on reflex, shutting her eyes close as she hunkered down for a few hours. Sakura knew she would take soldier pill after soldier pill until she had filled her Yin Seal back up, brought her fighting capabilities up to what they had been. _Then she would find the nearest source of water, or otherwise create one to drown that being as best she could._ Water was the natural enemy of fire, so that was which she would use. She would make it hurt, and then she would kill it, and then there would only be that man to go.

Sleep, however, did not come easily. She was alone, in the middle of a desert, and her last friend had just been murdered. Brutally. Any rest she was going to get was fitful at the very least, and so regaining her strength took that much longer. Her chakra recovered at a snail’s pace, her wounds healing just as slowly. Perhaps she might have recovered faster if she had waited in that place for a few days, but she was already moving as she needed to. As empty as the world around her was, she could have been the last living human for all she knew. _Aside from him and the beast which couldn’t be classed as such._

Sand crunched under her feet as she trudged on, the only figure on the horizon. Sunagakure had been destroyed a week before, so she knew there would be no aid there. She didn’t want to visit any sort of village, what with the amount of death and decay there would be.

Fortunately for her, the footprints led away from the heart of the desert, and Sakura followed after the fiery trail of footprints. Really, tracking the creature wasn’t hard – a bonus, given how Kakashi and his nin dogs were already dead. He had been the best tracker amongst them. All Sakura needed to do was follow the swarth of destruction set before her, and then she would be set. _Well, as set as one could be when faced with a monstrous enemy and a villain worse than Uchiha Madara and Ootsutsuki Kaguya._

Her teeth were gritted together, lips pulled back in a sick sort of smile. What she was doing was tantamount to suicide. Sakura didn’t care. Her friends were dead. The rest of the world was likely dead too. And the ones who had made things that way were still alive. That had to change, else her family, her friends, would never have any form of peace. Hands curled into fists, shaking in fear and anger.

She didn’t mind the stifling heat all too much. Despite being a native of Konoha, she had grown up around her uncle and her grandfather, and they, unlike her father, had been masters of the forge. They had taught her plenty too, insisting that five years old was old enough to start an apprenticeship. All of the Haruno Family had to learn metalwork, unless they wanted to be unprepared for when the curse of the Haruno Clan came to the call. _Truly, they hadn’t been much of a clan…_ Sakura snorted, stepping over an inky black line drawn on the sands before her.

It was something of a rite of passage – to lose a limb, whether it be a hand, like her grandfather, or a leg, like her uncle, and then to build a replacement for it. The family stories about their missing limbs were probably part of the reason why her father had been so hesitant about allowing her to become a shinobi. When she had been a baby genin, she had shrieked whenever her family implied she’d soon be losing a limb, her horrible temper always flaring at the mention of becoming less perfect _for Sasuke, obviously._

Laughter escaped her then, choked and sorrowful, tears biting at the corners of her eyes. _She wanted to go back to those blissful days._ She had been a horribly rude girl. She just wanted to go back and say _sorry._ She wanted to go back and tell them she loved them all to pieces. She wanted to go back to those days when her uncle and grandfather taught her metalworking. But she couldn’t. The man and his beast had taken those away from her, and he _would pay._

Jaw set, she walked onward, clawing her strength back out of pure spite as she walked closer and closer to what would be her doom. _She had little doubt that in her vengeance she would die along with the pair of monsters._ After all, if one sought revenge it was best to dig two graves – or in her case, three.

Sakura didn’t care.

There was nothing left for her to lose.


	2. the spiral, the pride, the fall, and the subsequent splash

Wind blew over and around the dunes of sand which concealed her enemy from sight, and Sakura panted, her throat terribly dry, her skin turning a pinkish-red colour under the harsh light of the sun which stung to the touch. Not that burnt skin mattered too much with the task set before her. She would succeed and die or fail and die. There were practically no other options, because the world was dead and there would be no one left to drag her someplace safe – away from the elements which would ultimately kill off her exhausted self – after she was done. _The only other option being her dying in battle._ Sakura didn’t care. There was nothing to lose, and only revenge and justice to be gained.

It was a purely selfish thing she was doing. Indeed, Sakura was under no qualms she was doing something moral and just. She just wanted to beat the bastard who had taken everything from her and drag him off to the pure lands where she’d hopefully be able to punch him some more.

Black lines marred the golden sands before her, creeping back in towards where she presumed the centre of the odd circle-spiral design she could just about make out underneath the glare of the sun. The air above them rippled with heat, the burning sensation only growing as she sneaked her way up the hill of loose sand, stopping only once she made it to the top and saw _them._

Chestnut brown hair fluttered in the wind, eyes Sakura knew to be a burnished shade of amber fixed on the unmistakable _seal_ on the ground before him. Her throat was dry at the sight, because from one glance she could see the enormity and the complexity of the seal set before her. She couldn’t even read the unmistakable characters written within the seal. But she knew whatever the seal was designed for, it would bring nothing good, that was for sure.

_All the more reason not to let them go through with their plan._

Her eyes flickered over onto her first opponent. The man’s guard dog. Though Sakura could hardly call such a creature a _dog._ It was a hilariously inaccurate depiction of the creature before her. A dog could be friendly towards people, whilst the creature before her was nothing of the sort. She could feel it in its very nature, and what a vile nature it was. It was a being of fire, death, and ruin. The being who had ended her world, albeit on the man’s orders. _And they would both pay for what they had done._

“All done,” the man’s voice echoed through the stillness between them, and Sakura’s eyes widened as his hands moved through familiar seals. Her legs were moving in an instant, and she broke the top of the sand dune, loose sand shifting beneath her feet as she charged down towards her enemies. Part of her relished in the way those amber eyes widened at her appearance there, but that part was swiftly silenced as she tucked and rolled under the swing of the fiery whip. She was on her feet and running without pause, chakra dogging her footsteps as she hurried and hurried to make it there _before_ the seal activated. “ _Haruno!”_ he snarled, amber eyes flashing with rage, and then three things happened almost simultaneously.

Her fist slammed into the creature of fire and hate.

They both skidded out of the ring at the heart of the seal.

The seal activated in a blinding flash of white.

There was no other way for Sakura to describe it – the world flickered, a burst of static resonating through her ears as space _and possibly time itself_ distorted. For one long, agonising moment it felt as though she was being torn in two. The pain of something latching onto her and attempting to expel her chakra from its very source – _unnatural,_ something whispered – making a scream burst from her throat as she felt her very molecules themselves distort. Skin burnt and rippled, bones aching beneath her skin as something changed. _As something deep within her unfurled like a flower coming into full bloom._

_Outsider,_ the part of her which viewed her chakra as unnatural whispered, the strange, gentle voice echoing in her ears as she screamed in pain, like there was starfire in her very bones as she lay upon the forge being made anew.

_Blood of Kinslayers,_ another voice whispered as she hung there, caught between the beginning and the end. She had dared to offset the seal from what and where the being had meant to be, and part of her wondered whether this was to be her destination.

_Returned Blood of Old,_ came a third voice as her skin tightened, and Sakura suddenly felt very small all of a sudden as she dangled over what felt like a precipice. One of understanding and knowledge. There was a fleeting thought, an explanation to all things dangling just out of reach, and Sakura hungered for answers. She always would, just as she always had.

_Bound to Arda without choice,_ yet another voice said, but Sakura could barely pay attention long enough to _think_ on what the strange voices were saying, nor the fact that they spoke in one of the secret languages the Haruno Clan only knew. She was in too much pain to think for explanations, yet it wasn’t enough to make her forget her task. She was going to kill that creature of ruin, flame, and death. So she couldn’t stay there.

_Bear the weight of your family’s sins._ Sakura closed her eyes, the burning pain dying away, leaving her with an odd warmth burning from within, her chakra no longer that blue pool as she clung to it like a drowning woman clawing for air. She _needed_ it, both to pursue the bastard who had stolen from her, and she could only breathe a sigh of relief through clenched teeth as her radiant white chakra was then left alone. It was done. What exactly _it_ was, Sakura had no clue. All she knew was that she felt an odd sense of completion and rightness in her very bones themselves. _Bear the weight of your pride._

_Atone._

Sakura opened her eyes then, the world beyond her not something which could be comprehended as consciousness she hadn’t realised she lost returned to her, the seal still glowing white as it _pulled_ and _pulled_ until a void of darkness shrouded her entirely.

_Return with the heirloom to the lands of your ancestors,_ a voice from before uttered, and Sakura looked around, uncertain as to the origin of the voices, nor their importance. _By your deeds will your ancestor earn his freedom._

There was yet another tug, the space around her feeling as though it were spinning around and around until the white glow vanished from beneath her feet and Sakura fell. _What chaos will you bring to these lands, child of red eyes?_ A voice spoke, the sound different to the previous ones. _Darker, fouler._ She plunged out of the blackness, eyes widening as wind whistled past her, hair whipping up towards the blanket of stars in the sky above her. _Unfamiliar stars,_ part of her noted before the larger, more sensible part of her flipped herself over in the air. Her hair seemed oddly dark, but she had the blackness around her to thank for that.

Land was visible far below, a horrible feeling curling in her gut as she free-fell towards the earthen mass. Fire glinted in her vision, eyes narrowing on the flaming beast who was similarly plummeting down towards the ground at terminal velocity. _The flaming creature she needed to kill._ Her gaze darted about the place, eyes narrowing as she searched for its master – but the man was nowhere in sight.

Flames licked the skin of her cheek, and a yelp escaped her as she lurched as best as she could – considering she was mid freefall – to get away from the pain which stung her skin. A wordless screech rent the air, the sound hideous enough to make her slam her hands over her ears as the noise seemed to resonate through her, bringing dread and terror alongside it.

Then Sakura remembered that creature had killed her family and friends, and she cast the maelstrom of _fear_ and the childish want for her mother, father, and even her grandfather – she had always felt safest around them in particular – aside. Fiery whip curled around her right foot, a scream and yelp escaping her as the fire burned through the sandal she wore, scorching skin as the creature pulled her closer towards it.

Sakura bared her teeth, hatred and rage coursing through her very veins themselves as she reached for her chakra. _Only for it to shrink under her touch._ The pressure around her ankle only grew, tears escaping her eyes at the sheer intensity of the pain. _It hurt so much more than she was used to, her skin feeling so terribly raw and sensitive after the seal and the strange happenings above._ Chakra behaving weirdly, she opted for the next method of approach.

A grin bloomed on her lips, one made for war, teeth glinting in the light, a snarl rumbling from her chest as she reached behind her, drawing the slender long blade from its sheath _which had miraculously survived the strangeness which had happened to her and her body in the skies above._ “Die!” she hissed in her family’s second tongue, dodging the clawed, flame-imbued hand which reached for her, chakra surging in a reassuring, familiar way to stick her feet to the blackened skin of the creature which had ruined everything. _The monster who had enabled that man._ The same creature who had slaughtered her family.

Her hands tightened their grip – _why was the sword thicker than she remembered?_ – chakra pulsing through her muscles as it finally crept out from her core, desperation lending her strength as she pierced the beast’s belly. _It had to die,_ she chanted, repeating that word over and over in her mind as she pulled the blade out, only to stab it in yet again. _Recompense for the mess her ankle had become, trapped in the flames of the whip as it was._

The creature screeched again, the sound louder and lined with pain. _Pain Sakura was oh so happy to be delivering._ The noise pierced right through her, hands shaking then, even as she lifted and stabbed _and stabbed and stabbed._

Ground loomed closer and closer, but Sakura cared little, fixated as she was on the being who _needed to die._ Clawed hands swiped at her, finally hitting her and battering her away from the grotesque, injured body, sword still buried deep in its chest from her final, hardest strike as Sakura tumbled away from the creature of flame and death. The whip went taut, its hold on her ankle still firm, a scream of pain escaping her as the flaming material dug into her flesh, tearing through skin and muscle until Sakura both heard and felt the distinct sound of bone breaking. Fire seared at her ankle for but a few moments more – and then she was free from the cruel grasp of the fiery whip at last, and she plummeted down and away from the monster who had ruined everything.

_The monster who would undoubtedly haunt her nightmares for years to come._ She would never be able to forget its visage. _But there was a more pressing matter at hand, and Sakura turned her attention to the world below._

Light reflected off the surface below her, the moon above allowing enough visibility for her to see the body of water she was sailing down towards. Eyes widening at the closeness of the ground, she gathered every last drop of chakra she had, pulling it around herself like a cloak. She sucked in a sharp breath, closing her eyes a mere few seconds before the impact was due.

Ground trembled as the monstrous flaming creature hit the ground, the water’s surface itself seeming the quiver while she entered them with a loud _splash._ Chakra ensured she survived the impact, the air knocked out of her as she plunged down into the deepest part of the river. _She had been so very lucky it was so deep at the place she had landed in._

* * *

And in the Last Homely House East of the Sea, a being clad in flame could be seen plummeting down from the skies above, as if sent from the heavens, though ultimately far too close to boundaries of the elven realm. The smaller figure went unseen, basking in the shadows the creature whose _malice_ and _hatred_ could be felt even from so far away. The same hatred which had not been seen since the Elder Days themselves.

It was enough to warrant a response, a horn sounding from within the settlement itself, and soon enough, a contingent of armed warriors left the dwelling of _Imladris,_ led by the very one who governed those lands himself.

* * *

Oblivious to the commotion approaching, Sakura scrambled, kicking with her one good leg – _it hurt too much to even move her right leg_ – and clawing with her hands and arms to reach the surface of the river once more. Her lungs felt as though they were about to burst by the time her head popped above the gently flowing river.

Driven by the need to inspect her handywork, _and marvel at the sheer strength of the creature’s body even as the flames faded from its visage, given it hadn’t splattered across the ground like a burst watermelon,_ Sakura pulled herself on aching arms to the stony banks of the river. Truly, it felt as though she had been fighting for days rather than a matter of minutes as she yanked herself onto the shores, legs too numb and shaken to be able to support her weight. _Plus her right leg hurt – it hurt too much._ She wouldn’t be able to stand on it, she knew.

So crawling it was, all the while praying the monster was dead – and that the bastard who’d stolen her precious heirloom was nowhere in sight. _It would be all too easy to kill her right then and there._ Groaning weakly, she made it half out of the waters, pain wracking her entire body the more she struggled and struggled to move.

Truthfully, Sakura had no idea how long she lay there for, skin rapidly cooling from the water and her current exposure to the cold night air. _This was totally how she died,_ or so Sakura mused, a snort escaping her as she finally found the urge to move once more. Her hands scrabbed in the stones, a yelp escaping her as one cut into her hand. Wincing, Sakura pulled her fingers back, staring down at the cut—

Sakura blinked, staring at her hand then, a frown marring her lips then as she stared _and stared._ The limb was too small, a wrist lined with baby fat as she stared down at the strange, alien limb attached to her – Sakura glanced at herself as best she could – _too small_ body. _Why was she so small?_ She was in her twenties, and while she had aged the slightest bit slower than Naruto and Sasuke, she had been a decent height.

_So why did she have the wrist of a child?_

It didn’t make sense. In fact, it made so little sense that Sakura – shinobi extraordinaire – failed to notice the arrival of _armoured, dangerous_ warriors on horseback. For all their bulk and height, the riders were eerily nimble and silent as they dismounted to stare at Sakura’s handiwork.

“Impossible…” the breathed word made Sakura snap from her daydreams, eyes widening as she realised she was no longer alone. _And that she had no idea whether these strange, unnervingly tall people were friend or foe._

“Is it… dead?” another asked, voice borderline hysterical, and Sakura made the executive decision to edge away towards the tree cover. They had overlooked her existence, and she would make full use of that.

Or she would have – had stones not skittered down into the river as she scrambled to move away from the strange group. The noise had the many beings before her turning around, and Sakura could only whimper as she met their keen grey-eyed stares and fervently wished for the ground to swallow her up.


	3. strange people and strange places

Night wind nipped at her skin, and when combined with the stares from the strange grey-eyed bunch it came as no surprise that she started shivering. _Violently._ She felt paralysed under their gazes, terror and fear gripping at her then in that instant, which seemed rather silly in hindsight, given she had taken down the terrifying flaming creature who felt _so much worse._ But she was tired, everything hurt, she couldn’t move her right leg, and she was a child in body for some reason she couldn’t quite fathom.

“A… child?” the voice sliced through the stillness with the surgical precision of a scalpel, and the silence abruptly came to a halt as one of them came towards her.

That was about the time Sakura decided to throw away any hint of subtlety and sprint away from the strange unfamiliarity set before her. She wanted to find somewhere quiet to curl up into a ball and cry. She wanted to find somewhere where she could sit down and figure out what in the blue blithering blazes had just gone down. Part of her could hardly believe she had slain the beast – and she was still alive too! That had to count for something, and all she needed to do was dry off, and then everything would be totally fine. _Absolutely fine._

So Sakura pushed herself to her feet and stepped away from the terrifyingly tall warrior coming towards her to do something Sakura knew not—and immediately went sprawling face first into the mix of sharp and smooth pebbles lining the riverbank. Her right foot, it seemed, was in no condition to take her weight, so instead she began feebly pulling herself away from the strangers with just her arms and her one good foot. Whimpering yet again, childish tears biting at her eyes at the new onslaught of pain. _Which still couldn’t eclipse that of her throbbing right foot._

“All will be well, little one,” the stranger murmured, voice perilously soft, and Sakura could only look at him, wide-eyed and terrified. _Because she didn’t know them, didn’t understand them, nor did she comprehend why they felt like a balm of safety upon her battered, threatened soul._ Hands far larger than her own lifted her then, and her own little fingers could only curl against the metal plating of the armour _he_ wore in order to find some sense of stability.

“Here,” another voice sounded, and Sakura’s head snapped around at the feminine sound, and she could only really watch as she found herself bundled in a warm cloak – something each of those grey-eyed strangers had been wearing. It was terribly soft and comfy to be snuggled in, and Sakura couldn’t help but succumb to the whims of that childish part of her which wanted to be blanketed in safety and warmth. _Why was she obeying that part of her? Had it been more than her body affected by… whatever had happened up there before the fall and the subsequent splash?_

“Were you startled by the balrog’s fall, little one?” the one holding her crooned, the way one could only really talk to a small child. _Or a puppy._

“Elion, _Sindarin,”_ the second one – the female – spoke, and Sakura startled at the name of her family’s second tongue. The same tongue they were currently speaking to her in. Sakura didn’t understand the conversation in the slightest, but then she understood very little of what had just occurred. Everything seemed to be happening just far too quickly, and truly, looking back upon what had happened… Sakura wasn’t quite sure how she had survived, nor mustered the courage to face such a creature as the now-dead flaming beast was. _The shinobi life, and the values it had instilled within her, perhaps?_ The pure terror the monster had radiated made her want to curl up into a ball, and that was merely the memory of the feelings the beast had instilled. She would no doubt be having trauma-ridden nightmares in the coming weeks. _But at least it was dead, thanks to the fall._ It hadn’t died from her numerous stabbings, sadly enough, though she had caused some small modicum of damage.

“Of course,” _Elion,_ or so she presumed, said, and when he next opened his mouth to speak to her, it was in a tongue she didn’t understand. Her brow furrowed, pain still pulsing through her, right foot aching like no tomorrow, and Sakura whimpered once again.

“Have you asked her of her parents’ whereabouts?” the lady asked. “You saw the state her leg was in,” she said, glancing to where her right foot lay, ensconced in the wonderful grey travelling cloak they had wrapped her in. “It is a marvel she is still conscious…”

_A marvel indeed._ One Sakura was still half-deliriously pondering as she found herself carried towards the larger group of strange and utterly scary warriors. She was tiny, injured, and she doubted she would be able to do much should they decide she had to come to harm.

“But how did her leg come to be in such a state?” Elion wondered, and Sakura stiffened as grey eyes darted between her and the beast she had felled. “Surely she could not have anything—”

“Killed mama and papa,” Sakura slurred, trying to sound as terribly childish as possible as she waved a hand towards the dead monster, feeling the stinging bite of pain at the reminder of the loss of the ones she loved. _Maybe they wouldn’t hurt her if they thought she was an actual child?_ “So stabbed it. Could I have my sword back, please?” she asked, barely able to keep her tongue from tripping over the words. _Wait, why did she tell them she stabbed it?_ That would mark her as dangerous. But the words were said, and there was naught she could do to take them back.

“ _Sindarin?”_ the lady murmured, shock and confusion written across her face. “A ranger’s child, perhaps?”

“The burns, Amathil,” Elion breathed. “Her foot…” A frown marred his brow, and Sakura squinted up at him as his knuckles brushed lightly over her cheek. “Did you not just hear her words?”

“A child could not yet have fought a balrog – much less lived through such a battle, nor the fall which ultimately killed the wretched being,” Amathil said, and Sakura couldn’t help but glare through tired eyes at the strange lady. Everything hurt, and she wanted to sleep. “Do you forget the tale of Glorfindel? Or do you seek to besmirch the weight of that which he accomplished?”

Elion sighed. “And are you, dear friend, ever going to overcome that overwhelming admiration you have for the bringer of hope?” he asked, soon turning his gaze back upon her as she squirmed ever so slightly in his grasp. “She is soaking wet from the river – she landed in water.”

“A fall from such a height would kill someone, regardless of water or no,” Amathil said, and Sakura had the weirdest urge to blow a raspberry. _Though she now had the size of body to pull it off without looking more childish than she outwardly appeared._ Laughter bubbled from her throat then, the world spinning as she shivered.

“How else would you explain her presence here? There are no settlements bar Imladris anywhere close to here… and certainly no mannish ones,” Elion spoke, his voice a hushed whisper even as someone laughed weakly in the background.

“Perhaps she wandered off from a travelling band of rangers or other folk,” Amathil whispered back just as harshly. “That explanation certainly makes more sense than claiming that a child slew a balrog and survived plummeting down from the stars!”

“Sword,” Sakura slurred, barely conscious of what she was doing or saying anymore. The sky was so very pretty without the flaming beast ruining the view. “Give.” Her fingers clumsily searched for the sheath of her blade, numb hands curling around her prize and lifting it out from its hiding place beneath the cloak she had been bundled up into. She wanted her blade back, the almost unnatural urge to have the familiar cold steel in her grasp consuming her as she feebly squirmed in Elion’s grasp. “Please,” she bit out, barely remembering about manners as she dangled on the edge of consciousness. The world was spinning so very vividly, and she longed for nothing more than the bliss of unconsciousness. Fate didn’t smile upon her though.

Cool hands touched at her forehead, and Sakura shivered despite the fact she felt as though she were literally on fire. Being the medic she was, she supposed it had only been a matter of time until she fell prey to illness, what with the fire, the injuries, and the fall she had experienced in a far too short of a timeframe. “A fever,” Elion murmured, voiced perilously soft. “We can continue our conversation later, Amathil,” he said, walking somewhere then. “We must get this little one back to Imladris.”

“Sword,” Sakura slurred, the word stuck in her brain on a loop, and she could only sigh quietly as black spots filled her vision even as she felt herself lifted even further off the ground. _She only hoped nobody dropped her from that greater height._ Though she had survived a much larger one. _But she had been conscious, not in pain, and had a grasp over her chakra._

* * *

A soft huff escaped her as consciousness returned to her. The sight of a white ceiling greeted her, and Sakura could only blearily blink at the bright light shining in through the open windows. She didn’t feel cold anymore, and her stomach rumbled softly as she sat up ever – telling of the fact she had been asleep for a while yet.

Her hands were still tiny, everything about her terribly undersized, proving to only further remind her that she had been cast into a strange place. _Who seemed to speak one of the languages of her family._ A frown pulled at her lips, the niggling sensation of something being terribly wrong consuming her as she sat there, in a strange, oddly comfortable bed, inside a strange, unfamiliar room.

The architecture was different to that which she was used to, and yet there were some glaring similarities here and there which took her back to her family’s compound. Sakura didn’t know what to make of it. She didn’t know what to make of any of it. That in itself made her feel numb – like there was a gaping hole inside her chest – alongside a crippling sense of loss. She wanted to cry as she had done on many occasions, but the tears wouldn’t come. It was as though the well of tears usually there ready to spill had dried up. Dimly, she wondered if the fire had evaporated them all. A huff of air escaped her at the thought, and she stared down at her too small hands once more, wriggling and flexing them. She could feel her child smooth skin, her stubby, tiny little nails attached to her fingers, and a whole myriad of other things. Nothing to suggest they weren’t real.

Everything around her was real, though her mind had yet to catch up with that fact. She had been… displaced, if the vague voices she could barely remember and the space-time seal were anything to go by.

The door to her small room there clicked open, and in walked yet another grey-eyed person. There were so many of them. Sakura supposed it made sense – what with the grey-eyes being the ones to find her on that riverbank. She had then allowed herself to be taken to the strange place she had woken up in… and that, Sakura believed, brought her up to the present.

“You have woken.” The voice was undoubtedly masculine, and Sakura blinked as she took in the long, deep dark brown hair which fell dead straight to just above his waist. She hadn’t seen hair as long as that on a male since Hashirama and Madara.

Sakura blinked, acutely aware of those grey eyes staring at her then. She jolted, realising he was expecting an answer, and she nodded then, blinking owlishly as he came to the bedside and crouched down there. It was only then that she registered him as unusually tall. _And that was counting her strange regression into a child’s body._ “Can I help you?” she asked, all too aware of the childish lilt to her voice.

She wondered what he saw when he looked at her. There was something oddly intent about the gaze fixed on her then. _Like she was an oasis in a desert._ She shivered at the memories of what had happened to Suna. “My father wished to speak with you once you woke,” he said. “We have been checking on you every hour. Everyone has been worried since you were brought to the Halls of Healing.”

Sakura blinked once more, feeling incredibly slow as she struggled to put things together. “Who are you?” she asked, turning so she faced him, bringing her legs out from under the covers they had been so neatly tucked under.

“My name is Elladan,” he said, smiling softly, eyes tinged with sorrow as they flickered up and down her tiny form as she sat there on the edge of the bed. “What might your name be, little one?”

She swallowed, her throat feeling weirdly dry as her lips parted to answer his question. “Lothien,” she said, giving the name given to her by her grandfather in that family tongue of theirs. Though it was no longer a family tongue. Everyone she had come across since being shoved into a child’s body had spoken it.

“Well met, Lothien,” he murmured. “Might you feel up to accompanying me to see my father?” he asked, and Sakura swallowed yet again, reaching over for the glass of water at her bedside, feeling terribly off balance as she did so.

She stared at him, frowning then as she mulled over the offer. _Why did Elladan’s father want to meet with her?_ Lines furrowed in her brow, and she took a big gulp of water, letting Elladan place it back on the nightstand. _She would only know if she went to meet with him,_ or so she figured. Her stomach chose that moment to rumble loudly, and she felt colour stain her cheeks as mirth lit up his face.

“First, I think some breakfast may be in order though,” he said. “May I carry you down so we might acquire some?” he asked, and Sakura pushed herself to her own feet. _Why would she need to be carried?_ She might look like a child—

Sakura froze, wiggling her toes. The floor felt cold beneath her left foot. _Only her left foot._ Her arms windmilled then as she lost her balance, and only Elladan’s own arms kept her from faceplanting the floor.

“Little one, do not push yourself so,” Elladan said, voice terribly soft, and Sakura blanched _because she couldn’t feel her right foot at all, despite the mild throb there was there._ “You were injured… grievously.”

Ice slid down her spine, and she swallowed harshly, head moving down as she struggled to lower her gaze to the ground. Though it was less of the ground at that point – given she was being lifted from the ground by Elladan, despite not having given her permission.

Her left leg was fine, five toes wiggling there, tiny as they were, but it was her right leg which was the problem. The same side which had found itself wrapped up in a fiery whip, and it was only then she saw the damage inflicted upon her tiny body. Stomach muscles straining, she lifted herself up, fingers curling around her right knee, smoothing their way down from the shorts she wore to the stump which cut off just a bit above where her ankle was supposed to be.

Laughter bubbled from her lips then. Some part of herself had thought her above the family curse, and that same part was abruptly crushed by humility as she took in her missing foot and ankle. _Her right foot was gone._

Sakura didn’t realise how much she had valued it so.


	4. all the things she missed the most in ways she couldn’t imagine

_Her foot was_ _gone._

The thought rang around in her brain for far too long, and Sakura felt utterly helpless as she numbly ate her breakfast. She hadn’t even thought to check for poisons or anything to loosen her tongue, too caught up in the fact that the family curse had come a calling, and had left her there in strange, unfamiliar lands, with a strange unfamiliar clan. _Or was it a hidden village of sorts?_ There were lots of people there who were warriors, she could tell that much, whether by the weapons they carried, or the callouses on their hands.

She no longer had callouses anymore, her tiny _too small_ hands baby soft and freshly healed from where she had torn the skin by stabbing the giant flaming monster. It was difficult to get her head around, and Sakura was fully aware part of her had shut down. _Her family – her entire world – was dead, she was somewhere foreign and new and yet they spoke the tongue that had once been exclusive to her family, and now her foot was gone, courtesy of the flaming monster which had ruined everything._ It was too much to take in, and Sakura felt numb. She wasn’t sure whether she wanted that to stop. _Because there would be pain._ The kind which couldn’t be healed with chakra. She was scared. _And it was pathetic, what with how she had faced the fiery monstrosity which should have been so much_ _scarier._

“Little one,” Elladan spoke, and Sakura stared at him blankly, nearly flinching at the _concern_ written all over his face. Concern, as a shinobi, wasn’t something she was used to. But she was stuck in a child’s body, so she supposed it was warranted and ought to be used as much as she could. It wasn’t as though it could hurt her. “Can you not eat any more?” he asked, gesturing at the porridge she had barely touched. Her stomach twisted harshly, and she shook her head, glaring down at her feet— _or should she say foot?_ She only had one, and that fact in itself was going to take some getting used to.

She wanted to punch something. But that would require standing on two feet in order for balance. _If she had just lost a hand like her grandfather…_ Then maybe it would have been better. Sakura didn’t have the option of trading a foot for a hand though, and so she was stuck with being lifted off her tiny remaining foot for the time being.

Scowling, she clutched at Elladan’s forest green tunic, supposing she ought to be grateful for not losing a hand along with a foot. That would have only made her day ten times worse. _Maybe she could walk on her hands for the time being, like Gai and Lee had used to—_

Her heart panged, bitter tears biting at the corners of her eyes as she thought on all which she had lost. _All that the amber-eyed bastard had stolen from her._ Rage, burning hot, flooded through her, and Sakura wanted to break something. _Anything._ She needed an outlet. Something she could manage without help because that would just piss her off that much more. She was supposed to be an adult. She was supposed to be independent… and yet…

Swiping at her eyes with her sleeve, she looked away determinedly, all too aware of the fact that Elladan had seen her tears. _Those were supposed to have been left behind when she became an adult, but she had become a child again._ Though she supposed what with her entire world being turned on its head, it might have been a bit warranted. _It didn’t mean that hatred burning in her belly subsided even by the tiniest of bits._ Her eyes narrowed despite their wateriness. _He would pay._ There was no other option. None which she would accept, anyway. She wouldn’t allow him to walk the same earth as her, especially not after what he had done to the last earth they had walked together.

Expression set into a furious frown, she eyed the corridor she was being carried down warily. There weren’t too many people wandering about – something Sakura was so very grateful for, what with how the many grey-eyes had been staring at her. _It was like they hadn’t seen someone like her before._ Though she supposed her hair colour was rather eye-catching, despite it no longer being the pastel pink it had been under different stars. There were certainly hints of her previous colouring, but overall her hair colour had shifted more towards that of her uncle and grandfather. There was more red than pink in her hair now, which Sakura supposed was a blessing in disguise. _People probably would have stared more if she had pastel pink hair._ Though her odd and really rather pinkish red was rare as it was. Most of the people she had seen had dark hair which came in varying shades – but never black – or silvery hair, or perhaps a light blonde akin to the colour of pale straw. Red wasn’t a common colouring, and even then, it had been a dark auburn shade rather than the ruby-crimson colouring of her own hair. She stuck out like a sore thumb.

The missing foot didn’t help with the stares from the few passers-by. Rather it only made pitying, concerned looks be directed her way with more intensity. Sakura’s shoulders slumped, and she tried to quell the little bubbles of frustration frothing in her belly to little success. “Little one—”

“My name _is_ Lothien,” Sakura grumbled, hating the patronising tone she could detect lingering there.

“Though you cannot deny you are very little,” Elladan said, mirth lighting up his features. Sakura wondered if his expression would change, should she punch him in the throat. Though she decided against that course of action, not wanting to piss off the people taking care of her right then and there. She was too small and she only had one foot – it was better for her to be there than out in the wilderness on her lonesome.

Sakura sneered, tightening her grip on his tunic instead, hoping it would rip, or that she could pinch the skin beneath hard enough to make him stop calling her _little._ She wasn’t used to being so small, and she felt so terribly out of sorts without including the whole _missing foot_ thing. No doubt she would need to gain access to a set of crutches to gain some sense of freedom as opposed to the feeling of the trapped, wounded animalistic part of her which wanted to _bite_ and scurry off someplace quiet and relatively safe.

“Come now,” Elladan murmured, face falling. Sakura ignored the part of her which took sick glee in that fact. “Will you not smile?”

Sakura felt her sneer grow that much more pronounced. “What is there to smile about?” she grumbled, smirking at the silence which fell at her words. She wasn’t Naruto. _Naruto was dead._ The reminder of that cheerful blonde lying on the ground, blank-eyed and lifeless had her twitching once more. Anger simmered under her skin, and Elladan was mercifully silent as he continued to carry her towards where she was meant to meet with his father. She would probably have to try and smile then, if only to try and make a good impression. _Part of her didn’t care about that, caught up in numbness, grief, and anger as she was._ Her hands curled into _tiny_ little fists at the thought of those amber eyes. _She was going to kill him – make him wish he had never been born in the first place._ Sakura didn’t know if she would be satisfied with that. She wanted her friends and family back. _But they were_ _dead._

A knock upon a door now in front of her had her blinking, and Sakura frowned as a low voice rang out. “Enter,” came the smooth, low voice, and a bout of nervousness _at meeting someone_ rose ever so slightly before she quashed it ruthlessly. _How could she be nervous at meeting someone after all that which she had been through?_ It was a puerile, and Sakura couldn’t stand the thought of childishness rubbing off on her in more than body. _She was an_ _adult._

“Father,” Elladan greeted as he entered, and only when he turned around from closing the door behind him did Sakura receive an unhindered view of the room. It was an office of sorts, a spacious one littered with bookshelves, a desk, papers, and a space off to one side which was unmistakably for receiving guests. “I have brought our guest.”

Grey eyes looked up then – Sakura didn’t know why she had expected something other than grey eyes. They were obviously a clan of people full of those with grey eyes. Eyes crinkled up; a warm smile directed her way as Elladan’s father came over to greet them.

“This is—”

“My name is Lothien,” Sakura said, introducing herself _because she was capable of such._ It wasn’t like she needed for Elladan to do everything for her.

Elladan’s father tilted his head, still smiling at her then even as he spoke. “Well met, Lothien,” he replied, expression giving nothing away as he stared at her so very levelly. The only hint to his train of thought was the slight crinkling of his brow. “I am Elrond, Lord of Imladris - within whose Halls you dwell. I am glad to see you awake at last.”

A frown pulled at her lips, hairs on the back of her neck rising as she found herself deposited upon a chair. One opposite Lord Elrond, but beside Elladan. Sakura wasn’t certain of whether she liked the seating arrangement.

“Now that you are awake though, we were wondering if you would be willing to answer some questions for us,” Elladan chimed in, a soft smile she detested set there upon his lips. The kind of smile one gave a child to ensure they felt comfortable. “Your arrival has caused quite the uproar amongst our people, not least because of what you appeared beside.”

Her eyes narrowed. “You know what that fiery creature was?” she demanded – because she had never seen such a creature before it had attacked them. _But if the grey-eyed clan knew of it, then it was undoubtedly from those lands._ The amber-eyed man was probably from there as well. He was probably there too, with her stolen family heirloom in hand. A scowl pulled at her lips, hatred bubbling inside her at the thought of the one who had ultimately taken everything from her.

_He would die._ Her eyes burned with hatred. _They could never exist on the same earth_ _together._

“That ‘fiery creature’ as you so put it,” Lord Elrond began, eyes growing distant as if cast back to an era long passed, “was a balrog, a corrupted being which should belong in an age long passed. Not a hide nor hair of one has been seen since the First Age, as it should have remained…”

“But it did not,” Sakura grumbled. The _balrog_ had appeared in her old lands, torn them asunder, eventually resulting in the both of them returning to its place of origin.

“No,” he said, sorrow flashing across his face quickly then. “And it appears you have paid the price for that belief… Though, indeed, that does not answer the question which still yet lingers upon my mind like a shadow of the wind.”

Sakura frowned, uncertain as to what she was meant to say in response to that. _He talked far too much like her grandfather for comfort,_ and the thought of that made tears want to spill down her cheeks once more.

“Tell me, Lothien,” Lord Elrond spoke, looking at her frankly then, and Sakura abruptly wished to be anywhere bar there in that instant. “How did it come to be that a balrog and an elf child would fall from a place with nothing bar sky above?”

_They had used a seal, obviously, and had been displaced from their intended landing spot, obviously._ It was a simple enough conclusion. _But she now knew what a balrog was, and she knew who the word ‘child’ was ultimately referring to, but—_

Sakura tilted her head in question. “What’s an elf?”

**Author's Note:**

> SPORADIC UPDATES T_T


End file.
